Contextualization of Open Educational Resources in Asia

and Europe

Jan M. Pawlowski, Henri Pirkkalainen, Juvy Lizette Gervacio, Norazah Nordin,

Mohamed Amin Embi

#easemBangkok, 19.12.2013

Jyväskylä, Finland

Source: [http://www.jyu.fi/, http://www.jyvaskyla.fi/]

Global Information Systemsat the University of Jyväskylä

Focus areasGlobal Information SystemsSupporting globally distributed workgroupsOpen Educational ResourcesReference Modeling

E-LearningSupporting international education settingsCultural adaptationStandardization & Quality Management Mobile & Ambient LearningInnovative tools and solutions

ProjectsOpen Educational Ideas and Innovations (OEI2)Nordic Open Education AllianceOpenDiscoverySpace: OER for Schools OpenScout: OER for ManagementTELMAP: Technology ForecastingCOSMOS: Open Science Resources: Exchange of Scientific ContentASPECT: Open Content and standards for schoolsiCOPER: New standards for educational technologies

Open X…

Type Typical Shared Artifacts

OER Learning Objects, Slide sets, simulations, animations

OEP Learning designs, curricula, lesson plans, experiences

Open Access Articles, textbooks

Open Source Authoring tools, LMS

Assets Pictures, illustrations, texts

OEI Oral conversations

Barriers (Pirkkalainen & Pawlowski, 2013)

Lack of resources for sustaining services, content and infrastructuresLack of time for production and localization of OERFor sharing OER, Need for Rewards and Acknowledgement.Lack of business model for open content initiativesToo many resources to choose fromHard to find suitable material – where to look fromLack of knowledge and awareness of open contentLack of knowledge and awareness of learning object repositoriesLack of contextual information for the resources – how can be used or modifiedDifficulty level of content – found materials not suitable for specific studentsOpen content do not fit the scope of the courseGranularity of the materialsMatching the resources to own curricula is problematicThe effective use of OER is quite complicated and unclear

…lots of things can go wrong…

Contextualization / Adaptation

Content – language and cultural changes such as translation– exchange of culture-specific concepts, names, date and time formats.

Curriculum, pedagogy and didactics– curriculum fit– teaching and learning methods

Interaction and communication– interaction patterns and communications – culture specific communication preferences – adaptation of communication tools

Media and design– media and design to organization’s identity (e.g. adapting layouts, logos,

templates)– cultural preferences such as colors or symbols / icons – changes of devices (e.g. from desktop applications to mobile app design).

Technical– infrastructure and tools (such as LMS, authoring systems, communication or

social software tools)– different networking capabilities (e.g. broadband)

Cultural (horizontal category)– all change aspects are mainly based on (geographical and organizational)

cultural factors

IssuesOER re-use is not yet common practice, in particular not in cross-border contexts

Not-invented-here syndrome: If I have not created / spent efforts / reviewed it myself, it can’t be good

Massive Open Online Colonialism…

Lack of appreciation and recognition in the community

Sharing complete resources might not be the solution…

What are solutions for cross-border collaboration and mutual (!) synergies?

CasesFinland: Open Educational Ideas– Focus on the sharing process

Philippines: University of the Philippines’ Open University – Focus on policy / strategy and experiences

Malaysia: OER in Malaysia– Good practices from Malaysia

Case structure– Motivation and context: Why is the case

relevant? What is the setting of the case?– Case description: Short description of the

adaptation and contextualization – Case results: What was achieved, what are the

key results?– Barriers and Critical success factors

Finland: Open Educational Ideas and Emotional Ownership

“the degree that individuals orgroups perceive that knowledge or resources belong to them”

Theoretical background:– Wabi-Sabi principle (Treviranus,

2011): Designing the imperfect to allow creation processes

– From Open Content to Open Thinking (deLiddo, 2010)

Imperfect Design

OER

Finland: Revising the Sharing Process - OEI Lifecycle

Finland: OEI Artifacts

Type Typical Shared Artifacts OEI Artifacts

OEI Oral conversations Ideas, innovations, needs / requirements (to develop educational material)

OER Learning Objects, Slide sets, simulations, animations

Early stage digital objects, draft versions, course outlines

OEP Learning designs, curricula, lesson plans, experiences

Didactic / lesson plans, new curricula, experience requests

Open Access Articles, textbooks Position papers, book outlines, drafts

Open Source Authoring tools, LMS Prototypes

Assets Pictures, illustrations, texts Sketches, drafts

Philippines: Resource Based Content Package

Four parameters of openness: OER, open admissions, open curricula, and distance education at a scalePositioned to lead in the OER movementResource Based Content Package – detailed study guide, to both on-line and off-line

resources considered to be the core set of materials for a course (instead of one textbook)

– resources may contain commentaries, detailed explanations, and examples, as well as self-assessment questions and activities

Resource examples– web-based publications and digital materials

such as podcasts, webcasts, as well as features of Web 2.0 like blogs, wikis, shareware, and virtual communities.

Philippines: Key Issues and ChallengesPolicy level – Lacking policy on OERs– IPR Issues (protection vs freedom)– constant discussion and articulation on the relevance of OERs

could lead to the creation of a policy Resource Constraints – regular appropriation from the government– need to update and acquire equipment and software as well as

improve interconnectivityCapacity Building for RBCP – need to create awareness on OERs and the RBCP– How to customize OER

Quality Assurance – design a mechanism to ensure quality of OERs.

Co-sharing of materials with Institutional Partners– Good basis through institutional partners locally and globally– Exploration of co-development of OERs that can be shared

Course Evaluation – need to review OER utilization and customization in the RBCP

approach

Malaysia: OER initiatives

Aiming at being a leading country on OEREmbracing the willingness to create, innovate and share Initiatives– Wawasan Open University & OER Asia– Open University of Malaysia – University Teknologi Malaysia Open

CourseWare– International Medical University (IMU) Webinar

Learning Series– Web 2.0 OER – Just-in-time Training 2U (JiT2U)– ZaidLearn– Learning Innovation Circle (LIC)

More in the next presentation

Summary: Lessons learned from the case studies

Integration of OER with existing initiatives– A variety of initiatives has already been develop– Integration need into broader OER adoption.

Policy support – needed on a national level as well as in university

strategies– indication that Asian universities have OER higher

on the agenda than universities in EuropeCapacity and awareness building – Stakeholders in all countries need to be informed

and educatedCross-border collaboration – mainly on a regional level– No broad initiatives exist – Strong need to collaborate globally!

Summary: Lessons learned from the case studies

Quality assurance – Resources and courses need to be quality assured taking the

different country- and organizational requirements into accountInstitutional partnerships – Supporting the utilization of OER– Existing and new partnerships should include OER as a means

for collaborationEarly sharing– Idea sharing is a promising concept towards the collaborative

development of OER– Not only OER should be shared but also OEI and OEP to share

in all parts of the lifecycleCollaboration processes and tools – necessary to facilitate cross-border collaborations and OER

development– ease adaptation and in particular translation as well as cultural

processes– Integrate standard tools allowing simple collaborative

development and adaptation

OutlookFirst explorative, cross-country study between Asia and Europe

Continue on the experiences, everyone can and will learn

Expand research on cultural aspects

Model a reference process for global OER collaboration (around the OEI model?)

Continue to build partnership in e-ASEM but create clear actions for collaboration!

Contact us…

Prof. Dr. Jan M. Pawlowskijan.m.pawlowski@jyu.fi

GLIS on the web…

http://users.jyu.fi/~japawlow

Nordic OER OpenDiscoverySpace

http://nordicoer.org http://www.opendiscoveryspace.eu